Matt Patricia will be replacing Jim Caldwell as head coach, but it is not a sign the Lions need to start over.

Sunday’s NFC Championship Game, which offers a spot in the Super Bowl between the Vikings and Eagles, suggests the Lions may not be that far off.

Neither Minnesota nor Philadelphia made the playoffs in 2016. The Vikings were 8-8 and the Eagles 7-9 that year. They combined to go 0-3 against the Lions in ‘16. The Lions, 9-7 the last two seasons, split against the Vikings this season.

The Lions have a nucleus of solid players. Quarterback Matthew Stafford was third in passing yards. Marvin Jones led the NFL in yards per catch. Golden Tate topped NFL wide receivers in yards after catch.

Advertisement

The offensive line should be much improved with Taylor Decker a year removed from shoulder surgery and the late-season development of guard Joe Dahl and center Graham Glasgow on the left side of the line, joining T.J. Lang an Rick Wagner on the right. Darius Slay, Glover Quin and Quandre Diggs lead an excellent secondary.

The Lions have a solid foundation in place. Obviously, general manager Bob Quinn has plenty of work to do to augment the roster. Running back is a big problem. So is offensive line depth. The front seven defensively is the biggest area of concern, but reasonably fixable.

In his first season, Quinn did a terrific job adding impactful, mid-level free agents. It’s important he re-gain his touch.

But coaching must be a plus-factor as well. Quinn has two drafts under his belt, and the year-to-year improvement of those players figures to as important as any issue. Such development will fall on Patricia and his staff.

Defensively, for example, we’ve seen flashes from defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson (second round) and Miles Killebrew (fourth round) from the 2016 NFL Draft. But they regressed the second half of last season as the Lions faded, and it was disappointing. Will they thrive under Patricia?

The Lions passed on Rueben Foster and Zach Cunningham to take linebacker Jarrad Davis in first round in 2017. It appears to be a serious mistake at this point. Will it still be that way after 2018, and Davis working with a new staff? Ditto with ’17 second-rounder, cornerback Teez Tabor, who saw limited action, and fourth-rounder, linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin. Same on the offensive side of the ball and ‘17 third-rounder, promising wide receiver Kenny Golladay, and fourth-rounder, tight end Michael Roberts.

There is little question how much impact Sean McVay made in his first season as the Rams’ head coach, and that the Jaguars improved dramatically once Doug Marrone was given the full-time gig with added pieces.